


Space Between Us

by OrangeMasonJar (QueenSeerofHearts)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Comfort, Dorks in Love, Duration of season 4, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Near Death Experience, Pining, Season 4 Spoilers, klance, long distance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-16 19:13:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12348936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenSeerofHearts/pseuds/OrangeMasonJar
Summary: This will go into the video calling Keith and Lance did while Keith went to train with the Blades. Season 4 spoilers. Pretty much just a oneshot for the duration of season four and how the Sharpshooter Samurai couple kept up with each other through the time they were apart.





	Space Between Us

**Author's Note:**

> As soon as I finished watching Season 4, I was pretty disappointed by the lack of Klance so I decided to create my own! This is what I hang on to until the release of Season 5, which I am already heavily anticipating.

"I have to take it. I need to be on that mission."

Keith's voice was so sure, so full of conviction that of course no one could argue. They all knew it. And Keith continued in his speech, but someone had stopped listening.

Lance felt like his world had been pulled out from under him. He'd noticed the changes. Noticed the way Keith was around less and less, balancing inversely with his near death experiences skyrocketing. Lance had no idea how to articulate how he felt. No idea how to put the churning, sickening feeling in his gut into words. He could only stare at Keith. Keith's lips were moving but none of the words were reaching Lance. He was silently begging Shiro to refuse. To tell Keith he had to stay. That the team needed him. That _Lance_ needed him. The rolling in his gut dropped entirely through the floor at the sight of the embrace signifying Shiro's blessing to go train. One by one, the others quickly made it over into the group hug. Lance's feet moved without his permission, needing that contact with Keith so much in that moment, that he pushed through Shiro's metal arm to get a firm hold around Keith's waist. He could hear the tears in Pidge's voice. God, he didn't want Keith to see him cry.

"Yeah, who am I gonna make fun of?" Lance did his best to joke, but his grin didn't reach his eyes. 

He felt strained. Worried. He let his hands drift out to envelop the shoulders of his other teammates, deciding he'd get a moment alone with Keith before he left. For now, he was content to share the moment with the team.

=========================

Lance found Keith packing. It made him hurt. Hurt in ways he was a little too wary to describe. He gripped a smallish box tight in his hand and gulped, nervously tapping on the frame of the door.

"Knock knock." he smiled the best he could, though he knew it was forced. Keith turned around, gaze softening when it landed on Lance. Lance had a habit of forgetting how breath taking Keith was and after looking around to make sure no one was watching them, he took a step inside, the sliding doors automatically shutting behind him. Keith looked almost frozen to his spot. Lance couldn't blame him. He wasn't exactly a frequent visitor of Keith's room. Hell, the two had only just really started getting along the past few months. More than getting along, really. It had terrified Lance at first. Made him even more defensive and quit to add insult to injury than usual. Keith made his heart pound and his hands clam up and on the occasions Lance could make Keith laugh, it was like the sun opening up through the clouds after a long rainy day. Lance had been _terrified_ at the prospect of feeling more. It was one thing to flirt from planet to planet but this was a guy he saw all the time. Someone he trusted and bonded with. Someone he had very quickly fallen for. 

"Are you.. really going?" Lance's voice came out soft. Much softer than he'd meant it to.

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"Mhm."

"Cool."

"Are you holding something?"

Keith's words brought his attention back down to the poorly wrapped box hanging in his grasp. He quickly put it behind his back. Suddenly the room felt very cramped and his paladin suit was entirely too hot, even with an installed cooling mechanism. He took a deep breath and chanced another few steps toward Keith, holding the box out in front of him and watched as Keith's hand tentatively reached out to take it. Keith was taking entirely too long to study the box. 

"Is it going to explode?" he asked flatly.

"What? No, shut up." Lance rolled his eyes, crossing his arms at the insinuation. "Just... open it."

He watched the expression on Keith's face change as he dug through the layers of poor packaging.

"You're really bad at wrapping stuff." Keith mused and Lance bristled, fully ready to defend his work. Something in Keith's tone stopped him, though. Something fond and soft that made Lance stare at him in frustrated awe.

Indigo met blue as Keith's face shifted up. He'd broken through all the wrapping paper and his face was morphed into one of confusion and curiosity.

"It's a video calling tech Pidge helped me build. I figured out a few weeks back where your... priorities.. were starting to lie and in case this happened I wanted to.. I mean I figured the team.." he trailed off, sighing in defeat, "I'd miss you."

He chewed his lower lip, letting his eyes fall away from Keith's face for fear of.. what? Rejection? Laughter? He had no idea. What he didn't expect was the hand that came down on his shoulder. 

"Thanks, Lance. I'll.. miss you too." Keith's voice was more hesitant than Lance had ever heard. It drew his eyes back up to search Keith's face. He didn't get much of a chance before Keith was hugging him. Lance was wide eyed and his breath very obviously hitched. It took him a moment to grasp the situation but when he did, he was hugging back. Armor was clunking into armor and it was awkward but Keith was beautiful and his forehead was resting on Lance's shoulder and Lance's arms were wrapped so nicely around Keith's waist. He was so close to telling him everything. He leaned back just a little to look down into the face of the man who'd taken his breath away since the Garrison.

"Keith there's something I need to tel-.."

"Lance there's something I need to-.."

They spoke at almost the same time and each let loose a nervous, awkward chuckle, avoiding eye contact. 

"Paladins, head down to the bay for a briefing. We've received a distress call in our quadrant." Allura's voice shocked them out of each other's arms and Lance ran a hand through his hair, internally grumbling about having 2 minutes of peace. Was that too much to ask?

"I guess you should get going." Keith's voice is soft but it had an edge. As if Keith was struggling to keep it together. It broke Lance's heart just a little more than the knowledge of leaving.

"Right.. I'll see you around, Keith. Be safe." he gave a half hearted salute and turned to leave the room.

"Lance."

"Hmm?"

He'd only just barely turned around when there were lips on his cheek. Soft, quick, chaste, but Keith's lips nonetheless. Lance was, for once in his life, stunned into silence.

"I.. uhm.. I'll call you as soon as I get there." Keith offered a soft smile, blush tinging his cheeks though Lance could feel his face mirroring the heat. All he could offer was a small nod, still slightly gaping in shock. Keith rolled his eyes and half pushed him out the door, letting out a soft laugh before the doors closed behind him.

Needless to say, Lance's whole walk to the bay was surmounted with an ear to ear grin.

=================================

"I miss you."

"I know, you tell me all the time." Keith attempted a deadpan but the curve twitching at the corner of his lips showed him stifling a smile. "I miss you too, Lance."

"C'monnn, say it like you meann itttt." Lance teased, giving his cheesiest smile. "I don't blame you for missing _allllllll this_." he gestured down at his full form, panning the camera to follow his hand as he walked into the kitchen.

Lance got an eyeroll for that one, but Keith's smirk definitely widened so he took that as a personal victory. He was in the process of getting some food out of the weird dispenser when Pidge barreled in, followed very closely by Matt in what looked like a semi-acrobatic game of tag. His presence was fairly common at this point. At first, Lance had been annoyed at his oh so obvious flirtations toward Allura. Mostly from a hey-my-lines-are-better-than-yours standpoint but Matt's brilliance and charisma quickly won Lance over and he'd accepted him into the team with open arms. Besides, who needs a princess when Lance had Keith? He'd more than made it known among the team when he and Keith had officially slid into full scale flirting. Teasing never carried the weight anymore and 'McMullet' was quickly replaced with 'Pretty Boy' or other things that would effectively get a rise out of him. There were very few things in the galaxy Lance wanted more than to hear Keith's laugh at any given opportunity. 

"Ugh, Lance can you make kissy faces at your boyfriend somewhere else? This area is for eating and if I have to see you look at him all starry eyed one more time, I'm gonna lose my appetite and possibly my lunch." Pidge was teasing but it only egged Lance on even more.

"Are you kidding? Like I'm not gonna take every opportunity I have to flirt with Keith in front of you. Especially when he looks sinfully good in the new digs." Lance made his tone even louder when hitting on Keith, even accenting it with a possessive growl, much to Pidge and Matt's dissatisfaction. Keith's lips were pressed into a thin line, embarrassment coloring his face all the way up to the tips of his ears. Lance couldn't hold back the laugh bubbling up in his system and he gave a small wave over his shoulder at Pidge and her brother before walking back to his room. 

Since Keith had left, he'd spent quite a bit of time in Keith's room, holding anything close that smelled like him. He wanted any sense of him near. It was so hard to have him far away. Even video calls only brought a certain amount of relief. It wasn't the same as being able to reach out and touch him. Wasn't the same as standing so close to him during briefings. He missed the training, the brushes of contact, but mostly he wanted to do what he'd never gotten to before Keith left. Wanted to kiss him till his lips were bruised. Wanted to fall asleep with his face buried in Keith's hair and his arms around his waist. Wanted to flirt and tease and hear that laugh in person. They talked as much as they could. If not every night, then every other night. Once when Keith was on an especially high risk mission and couldn't risk contact for three days. In that time, Lance was fearing the worst. They'd already been caught on a decoy ship once. Who's to say it couldn't happen again? But then, Keith had called and everything in Lance's world was right again. 

Tonight, they were falling asleep together. Hundreds of thousands of miles between them but they laid down on either side of their screens, the last thing Lance saw before drifting off, was that stomach churning, heart flipping look of adoration on Keith's soft features.

========================================

"They're calling me Loverboy Lance." 

"Pfft. That's a laugh." Keith scoffed. Lance's eyebrows shot up, feigning offense. 

"I resent that, pretty boy. I can be _very_ romantic. Managed to get you hooked on my charm, didn't I?" he winked, a grin ever present on his face. 

"If that's what you need to tell yourself, sure. I think it's more you wore me down with your god awful sense of humor." Keith deadpanned, an amused eyebrow arched, gauging Lance's no doubt over the top reaction. 

Lance sputtered, a hand coming up to his chest but it was dramatic enough that Keith knew he was faking. Then again, Keith could always see right through him anyway. Could always tell when it had been an off day and he was missing Keith more than usual. Keith could always pick up on his feelings, sometimes better than Lance. Lately though, there'd been so much to tell. Coran had gone bat crap and they'd been doing shows all over. He even told Keith about Allura playing him which he was admittedly relieved about. He's not much of a showman and was fully convinced he might have killed someone if forced to perform, especially on ice. 

Pidge had established that secure coded channel for them to speak on, but Keith still took precautions when discussing his Blades missions. He always made sure to use code words just to clarify he was okay and what they'd be doing. Lance's heart went out to Keith whenever he was particularly pained from lives lost during the most recent ventures but he couldn't deny the relief he felt knowing Keith always got back safe. He always promised he'd come back. And he always did.

===============================

Lance was frozen. Ice cold shock, terror, dread coursed through his veins and restricted his ability to speak. He was watching Keith charge that cruiser shield headfirst.

"Maybe not with our weapons.."

It echoed through the coms. Through Lance's hollowness as he realized exactly what was happening. He wanted to break off of Voltron. Wanted to race over there at light speed and knock Keith's cruiser off course. But he could only watch, his mouth drying out and his breath alternating between hyperventilation and nonexistence. He felt tears brimming at the outside corner of his eyes and just as he went to call out for him, to tell him to stop, to do anything, a laser sliced through the shield and Keith was pulling back. Lance felt the air rush into his lungs and no sooner had Lotor spoken to them than Lance was detaching and launching through space toward Keith, tears steadily streaming down his face. 

As soon as his ship was locked on and secured to Keith's, he marched into the pod, a mixture of anger and hurt and he didn't know if he was gonna hug Keith or punch him. Keith was halfway turned in his chair, catching his breath when Lance yanked him up and pulled him into his arms, softly shaking as sobs wracked his body.

"What the hell were you thinking?! You're not fucking disposable, Keith. You matter. You matter to the team, you matter to me!" Lance had all but dissolved into Keith as the hug was returned just as tight. They stood there like that for what felt like forever as the rest of the team approached, Shiro going to hear what Lotor wanted and everyone else coming to knock some sense into Keith. Lance continued to just hold him. He promised himself he'd never let go of Keith again. 

When the action died down, Keith went back to the castle with them and was in Lance's arms that night.

====================================

Lance woke up first that next morning. He looked down at the sleeping form on his chest. Keith's hair had fallen just into his face and Lance took care to softly brush it out of the way, making sure not to wake him. He smiled softly, his heart clenching with the thought he'd almost lost him. Almost lost his everything. His rival, his teammate, his friend, his crush, his boyfriend, his love. But here they were. And Keith had promised to come back. And he never broke a promise. The previous night had been a mixed of Spanish expletives launched from Lance in the midst of English as he reached the more angry and hurt side of his emotions. Eventually, he'd just resolved to holding Keith, making him promise never to do something so stupid again and then they'd fallen asleep. He'd wanted to kiss Keith but the context had been all wrong. He didn't want to think of their first kiss happening when he was upset. When his lips would be stained with the salt of tears and frustration would fill his heart. He didn't say it out loud but he knew Keith was thinking along the same lines when he crawled into Lance's bed and merely laid his head on his chest, falling asleep with Lance's smooth strokes through his wild black hair. 

Now that the commotion had died down, however, Lance was in the presence of someone he loved. Someone he'd been making promises to for months. Someone he wanted to show the world's best kiss to. He gazed down at Keith's sleeping form and sighed, letting his head fall back onto the pillow and closing his eyes, enjoying the feeling of Keith resting so innocently on his chest. It only took a few more minutes for him to feel Keith stirring awake and Lance's head shot up quickly to watch him blink the sleep out of his eyes. It was even more endearing up close. 

"Morning, Lance.." he mumbled, a hand coming up to rub his eye as he looked up into Lance's face.

"Morning sleeping beauty.." Lance mumbled back, letting a hand run idly through Keith's hair to brush more out of his face. Keith hummed with a quiet satisfaction that made Lance's heart pound. He had no idea how he'd ever manage to stop constantly staring at Keith. Just the idea seemed impossible. Lance wanted to stare at Keith for the rest of his days. He'd propped himself up on his elbow and Keith sat up the slightest bit, keeping a hand on Lance's chest to brace himself with. And then they were leaning in, absorbed in the vision of each other first thing in the morning that they hadn't been allowed for months. Lips slotted together effortlessly. Like they belonged there. Lance took a deep breath, smiling softly into the kiss and when they broke it off, he simply rested his forehead against Keith's.

"Keep kissing me like that and I'll never risk my life again." Keith mumbled, and Lance could hear the smile in his voice without even looking.

"Guess I'll just have to keep kissing you then.." Lance mumbled, his own smile quickly spreading. 

Keith was home. Keith was safe.

He kissed him again.

**Author's Note:**

> Yikes okay so this is my first Voltron fic but I really love this ship and hope to continue to make more! 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed Space Between Us ^^
> 
> I CANT BELIEVE PEOPLE ACUALLY ARE ENJOYING THIS THANK YOU AHHHH HOLYSHIT THANKS YALL


End file.
